The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has sought a mitigation plan from IndiGo amid protracted chaos at multiple Indian airports. The aviation watchdog said it had launched an investigation into the flight disruptions and asked the airline to submit reasons for the current situation. The domestic carrier has scrapped more than 100 flights and delayed numerous others over the past two days — citing newly updated crew rostering rules and operational issues.
“IndiGo has been asked to report to DGCA Headquarters to present the facts leading to the current situation along with plans to mitigate the ongoing delays and cancellations,” the DGCA said in an official statement.
What was the issue?
IndiGo released a statement on Wednesday evening amid continued chaos at multiple airports — citing newly updated crew rostering rules and operational issues for the crisis. The largest airline of the country also assured that its teams were now working around the clock to ease customer discomfort and stabilise operations.
“A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated,” the airline had said in a statement.
IndiGo said it was also offering passengers alternate travel arrangements and refunds amid the two-day disruption. The domestic carrier has also ‘initiated calibrated adjustments to schedules’ — with sources telling PTI that it would be cancelling and rescheduling flights over the next 48 hours.
Hundreds of flights cancelled, delayed
According to a Reuters report, IndiGo had reported an abysmal on-time performance of 35% on Tuesday amid persistent issues. Data from the civil aviation ministry indicated that this was the lowest among all Indian airlines. Flightradar24 data reveals that approximately 700 flights had already faced delays by 4:00 pm on Wednesday across the three busiest airports — Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The glitches have also spanned several other airports and remain in effect across the country. Flights were also cancelled in many cases.
